


A word in your ear, from father to son

by extrastellar



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aomine Daiki being a Good Friend, Aomine retired from pro basketball, Family Dynamics, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, Model Kise Ryouta, Past Injury, Pining Aomine Daiki, Police Officer Aomine Daiki, Pro Basketball Player Kagami Taiga, Pro Basketball Player Kise Ryouta, Pro Basketball Player Kuroko Tetsuya, Single Parents, like seriously we all need an aomine like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21646135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar
Summary: Kise Ryouta is a popular model and a successful basketball player for the Golden State Warriors. He's got it all: wealth, charms, a body to die for and, oh yeah, a kid. Raising a five year old alone when you're in the public eye can be tough, but that's what you have a best friend for, right?--Or: Kise is a single dad and Aomine is godfather and hopelessly pining.
Relationships: Aomine Daiki/Kise Ryouta, Kagami Taiga/Kuroko Tetsuya, past Kise Ryouta/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 199





	A word in your ear, from father to son

"Ryouta Kise, the Golden State Warriors' ace and famous model, has just announced that he turned down the Cleveland Cavaliers' contract offer and chose to sign another contract with the Warriors! Tell me, Janet, don't you think this is a great opportunity going to waste?"

Kise shut the TV off before the camera could slide over to the TV presenter's colleague, Janet, and picked up his phone with a heavy sigh. "See what I mean, Aominecchi? Did you watch that right now? It's the third channel reporting about this."

Aomine scrunched up his nose. They were face-timing and Aomine had watched the TV report at the same time. _"Well, what did you expect? That was a pretty heavy decision, Kise. And a public one."_

The blond man groaned. "I know, I know! But they jumped on it like starved wolves! Ugh!"

 _"That's the media. Just ask Tetsu's and Bakagami's PR teams on how they had to deal with the 'wolves' after they came out"_ , Aomine said gruffly. _"But what was that weird snapshot of you that Fox News showed?"_

"Some pap shot", Kise muttered and let out a tired sigh when he saw all the incoming messages from his manager, Shaniqua, and of course from his spokesman, Kai. "Caught me just after the press conference."

" _That sucks._ " Aomine shuffled, his picture blurring a bit in the process. " _I think ya made the right choice staying with the Warriors, though._ "

Kise gave a weak smile. "You think? Not just because you don't want me joining your old team?"

" _Don't be ridiculous, idiot_ ", the other man drawled. " _Nah, really. The Warriors are your team. There's nothing new for you with the Cavaliers. You don't have to join a new team to improve, that's how it's always been with you._ "

"Awwwww, Aominecchi~"

" _Shut up, Kise!_ ", Aomine barked and glared at the camera. He then sighed deeply. " _You look tired._ "

Kise shrugged. After he had washed off his make-up tonight there was nothing hiding the dark bags beneath his tired eyes. "It's been a long week, Aominecchi. This dumb contract had me running from meeting to meeting and the shoots and practice inbetween? And then Hayato had a fever, remember? I could sleep for five days straight right now."

Saying it out loud, Kise really felt like falling into his bed and sleeping for days. But alas, he had a five year old son who demanded his attention and sparse free time.

" _Oi, Kise. Should I take Hayato for the night?_ "

Kise almost wept in relief. "Aominecchi, I could kiss you."

The other man coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. " _Yeah... let's not. Do that. I'll pick him up in 20, okay?_ "

Kise gave the affirmative and waved into the camera with a bright smile before ending the call.

"Hey Hayato?", he called down the hallway. "How about spending the night at uncle Daiki's place?"

Hayato stuck his head out of his room and scrunched up his nose. "Do you have a date, daddy?"

Kise flushed. "U-uh, no. I just... need a full night's sleep, that's all."

"You do have a date."

"No!", Kise protested and squatted down. "Listen, little man, daddy's got a really busy week and needs some me-time, okay? Uncle Daiki will watch Pokémon with you!"

"Pokémon is stupid."

Kise wondered where he'd gone wrong in raising the boy.

"What?!", he squawked. "It's culture!!"

Hayato pouted. "It's old."

"Then... The Avengers?"

The little boy's face lit up. "Wuah! I can??"

Kise sighed and ruffled his son's blond hair. His heart was aching with affection at seeing the glee on his face. "Sure. But Uncle Daiki tells you when you have to look away, okay? And you listen to him!"

"...yes, daddy. Oh!" Hayato ran for the telephone and hit the speed dial for Aomine's place. "Hi Uncle Dai, it's me! Can we have McDonald's tonight?!"

"Hayato!", Kise shrieked and put the phone on speaker. "Aominecchi, do not buy him McDonald's!"

Aomine chuckled and Kise felt a smile tugging at his lips at the familiar sound. " _Let him live a little, Kise._ "

Oh, it was so nice to talk Japanese to someone who wasn't his son or the nanny. Kise had been very adamant on having a Japanese speaking nanny so that Hayato would be raised in both English and Japanese.

"Pleaseeeeee daddyyyyyyy", Hayato whined and blinked at his father with big puppy eyes.

" _C'mon, Kise._ "

Kise melted. "Okay, fine! But nothing too greasy, Aominecchi!"

He could hear the other man grin. " _Sure thing, Kise. See ya._ "

"Okay, young man", Kise said when he hung up the phone. "Pack your stuff and don't you forget your toothbrush!"

Hayato yelled in delight and dashed into his room to grab his favourite Spiderman backpack for his sleepover.

Aomine, for once on time, picked up his godson 15 minutes later.

"Aominecchi, you're a god trapped in a human body", Kise sang when he opened the door. "Thank you."

"I think my body's kinda godly too", Aomine said with a lazy shrug and looked Kise over. "Wow. You look like shit. Facetime kind of didn't show ya in all your tired ass glory. When was the last time you slept for eight hours full?"

Kise chuckled weakly. "It's been a while. Thanks for taking him, Aominecchi."

The taller man shrugged. "Like I said, 's fine. He's my godson and I gotta raise him right since you failed, heh."

Kise gaped and wailed: "Aominecchi! Rude!"

Aomine smirked and called into the luxurious penthouse apartment Kise owned: "Oi, Hayato! You ready?"

Steps thundered down the hallway and Aomine found himself with an armful of Kise Hayato.

"Uncle Daiki!", the five year old shrieked and clung to his godfather's neck.

Aomine huffed and patted the boy's back. "Hey buddy. You ready for McDonald's and Avengers?"

"Sounds like a child version of Netflix & chill", Kise mumbled and ruffled his son's hair. "You behave, little man, alright?"

Aomine put him down and Hayato nodded energetically. "Yep!"

"And brush your teeth before you go sleep!"

Hayato rolled his brown eyes. "Yeah, daddy."

"Don't stay up too late and-"

"Kise", Aomine cut him off and put a hand over the blond man's mouth. "I know the rules, okay? You go wash off that make-up, have a hot shower and sleep for 10 hours minimum."

"Aominecchi, your hand is sweaty", Kise complained and wiped his mouth, then he sighed. "Okay, off you go. I'll pick him up at 10. If I can't make it, I'll ask Lilly-san— or well, maybe Shaniqua or one of her team."

Hasegawa Lilly was Hayato's nanny. She took care of him until Kise came home and lived here most of the time. This week, however, she was off work and somewhere in Los Angeles according to her instagram.

"Got it", Aomine said and grabbed Hayato's overnight bag. "Hey, are you off tomorrow?"

Kise shook his head. "I've got a shoot at 1pm. I don't know how long it'll take."

"Then you definitely pick the little puppy up and I'll make us breakfast. Sounds good?"

Kise decided he'd gift Aomine a halo for his next birthday. "Sounds wonderful."

"Good night, daddy!", Hayato called gleefully from the street and waved while climbing on the backseat of Aomine's car.

Kise, who stood on the balcony, waved until the car turned around the corner. He sighed deeply and craned his neck. God, he was tired and sore and exhausted.

'A hot bath doesn't sound too bad... I could try the new bath bomb', he thought and walked back inside the apartment, shutting the glass doors behind him.

* * *

Kise's routine had been the same for years. He woke up at 7am, made himself a fruit smoothie, went for a run, took a shower, shaved, had a light breakfast and checked his schedule for the day and then called his manager, Shaniqua Thomas. Lilly would have woken Hayato by then and would prepare breakfast while the boy dragged himself out of bed. She would then drop him off at school and go grocery shopping. Kise would have left before she returned and come home late - as usual. Either practicing till nightfall or changing in and out of outfits without a break for a whole day.

Today, however, Hayato wasn't squealing and Lilly wasn't rummaging in the kitchen and Shaniqua had confirmed that he was free until his shoot at 1pm. He had slept until 9am and taken a long, rejuvenating shower.

Kise sat at the white kitchen table over a bowl of fruit salad and chewed slowly. It was weird, this silence. When did he have the morning and early noon off the last time? And when did someone take Hayato at the same time as well? It must have been before the divorce... and then he had been arguing with Victoria during the little free time. His ex-wife was from Italy, or at least her parents were, but she spoke barely any Italian. She grew up in America and he had met her through friends. She was gorgeous, tall, tanned, with thick black curls and fiery brown eyes that Hayato inherited. Up to this day Kise was wondering how the kid had ended up with blond hair. But then again, Victoria's mother was also blond. Victoria was also the reason why his poor son had ended up with the middle name Samuele — it sounded horrible. Hayato Samuele Kise. And to make it worse, she had only ever called their son "Sam". It had driven Kise up the wall.

Kise glanced at the clock, put his empty bowl into the dishwasher and stretched, enjoying the feeling of not wearing a stitch of clothing.

Ahh, yes. He had missed walking around the apartment naked as well.

Kise rubbed the back of his head where his stylists had shaved the lower part of his skull for an undercut so that only extremely short hairs remained. He still felt cold there, but he did like the look.

Kise made his way to his large walk-in closet and contemplated wearing his favourite pair of baggy jeans or the new sinfully tight black ankle-length jeans that had these super cool chains on the beltloops.

He sighed. He would be wearing too tight clothes soon enough, he'd go for baggy jeans. Kise grabbed a pair of boxers, slipped the blue baggy jeans on and fetched a comfortably tight white T-Shirt with a V-neck and a denim jacket with the Golden State Warriors logo stitched on it. He chose a pair of aviator sunglasses and hooked them at the neckline of his shirt and didn't bother to style his hair - the hair stylists would destroy it later anyways.

Kise pocketed his phone and his keys, locked the door behind him and took the lift. A good deal of wealthy and famous people lived in this complex in San Francisco and therefore security was installed and there was not only a portier, but also someone sitting at the reception.

"Heading out, Mr Kise?", the receptionist, Ronald Johnson, said and noted his leave in the book.

"Picking up my son from his godfather's house", Kise said with an easy smile. Mr Johnson was a middle aged American man with a mop of shocking ginger hair that was streaked with grey. He had been working here since Kise had moved in and already knew who to let up without giving him a call.

"Alright, then. Have a nice day, sir!"

"You too, Mr Johnson!"

Kise swirled his keys around his index finger and couldn't help the little pep in his step. He hadn't had such a good night's sleep for ages and even though he hadn't really slept in, he felt strangely refreshed. Humming quietly, he went downstairs into the complex's own garage and climbed into his sleek, stark white Mercedes SLK cabrio.

"I missed you, baby", Kise said gleefully and patted the car. "Let's go for a drive."

He plugged in his phone, chose a playlist, put his sunglasses on and started the engine.

Oh, it felt good to be driving again.

When the garage gate opened, his music was already blasting at full volume and well, Kise would be damned if he didn't know all the lyrics.

* * *

Kise parked his car in front of Aomine's small house in one of the better neighbourhoods of San Francisco. He had moved there from Cleveland after reinjuring his elbow so badly that he wouldn't be able to play pro basketball anymore. He did play streetball, though, and had coached at a few elite clubs for a month or so before realising that he sucked at theory. The house didn't have a garden, but it had a backyard with a hoop and that was all Aomine needed.

Kise parked his car in front of the garage, unplugged his phone while humming the last song he'd listened to and locked his car before striding over to the door.

The sign was handwritten and Kise pitied all the mailmen who had to identify the scrawled hieroglyphs as 'Aomine'.

He rung the doorbell and impatiently waited for Aomine to open the door. He was already yearning to hug his son despite only having been apart for a night.

"What the fuck, Kise. We're only having breakfast."

Kise beamed at his friend and took off the sunglasses. "Good morning to you too, Aominecchi! And I just slipped some random clothes on, mind you."

"Like hell you did", Aomine growled and gestured to his own clothes - loose sweatpants riding too low on his hips, an old muscle shirt, neither shoes nor socks. "This is normal breakfast clothing, idiot."

Kise pouted and whined: "You're such a rude brute, Aominecchi!"

The dark haired man rolled his eyes and stepped aside. "Move your fancy ass inside and take these ridiculously expensive shoes off."

Kise chuckled and pulled his completely white Jordans off. "Alright, alright! Did you wake Hayato yet?"

"Sure", Aomine said with a shrug and scratched his stomach, revealing the perfect sharp V of his hips. Well, Kise's hipbones were just as sharp if his countless topless shoots in low riding pants were anything to go by, but he still stared at Aomine's. "He's setting the table."

Kise hooked his sunglasses at the neckline of his shirt and dashed into the small kitchen with a squeal of his son's name.

Hayato shrieked when his father lifted him off the ground and hugged him tightly.

"Daddy!", he protested and struggled in Kise's hold. "Put me down, I'm busy!"

"But I missed you", Kise whined and blew a raspberry on Hayato's neck, causing him to shriek once more.

"You're such a mother hen, Kise", Aomine drawled. "It was only one night. Get a grip."

"Have your own kids, Aominecchi, then you'll understand!"

Aomine flushed slightly and grumbled: "Sit down and eat or leave."

Kise grinned at him, put his still protesting son down and sat opposite of him at Aomine's small kitchen table.

The dark haired man had prepared a Japanese breakfast: Steamed rice, miso soup, kobachi and grilled fish.

God, Kise had missed this.

'Screw my diet', he thought. 'It's fine once in a while.'

Aomine sat down at the head of the table and they clapped their hands together and chorused: "Ittadakimasu!"

"Aominecchi, this is delicious!", Kise said surprised and stared at his friend. "Are you taking lessons?"

Aomine shrugged and shoved rice into his mouth. "Learnin' by doin'. Living with Satsuki back when we graduated from Touou forced me to learn."

"That's my motto, Aominecchi! And don't speak with your mouth full!", Kise cried and pointed his chopsticks accusingly at Aomine.

The other man rolled his eyes. "I'm not your son, Kise. We're the same age."

"No, I'm older by two months!"

Hayato perked up from his breakfast with wide eyes. "Daddy, are you really?!"

Kise grinned triumphantly and Aomine shot him a sour look. It had pissed him off to no end that Kise had been the first to be allowed to drink, the first to have his driver's license just because he was the oldest of their group.

"Yep!", Kise replied and winked at Aomine. "My birthday's in June and Uncle Daiki's in September!"

"31st of August, idiot", Aomine grumbled and glared at his friend.

"Oh, please", the blond man said and waved him off. "That counts to September. Now, tell me, Hayato, did you have fun?"

Hayato's eye lit up and he started shifting in his seat. "Uncle Dai taught me some moves! I can dunk now!"

Kise raised an eyebrow. Hayato was only 120cm tall, there was no way he could reach the 300cm hoop in Aomine's backyard. "Did he now?"

"I lifted him on my shoulders", Aomine explained and moved on to the grilled fish of his breakfast. "Kiddo's got some good instincts, though. He's got some of my streetball moves down already."

Kise's chest swelled with pride. "Of course! He's my son!"

"And they say I have the big ego..."

"Eh?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Aomine only kept on munching on his food.

"Aominecchi!"

"Oi, Hayato", Aomine said to the boy. "Wanna tell your daddy about your phone call?"

Kise cocked his head in confusion. "Which phone call?"

Hayato grinned brightly, showing the gap between his front teeth from when he had lost his milk tooth a few days ago. "I called Uncle Tetsu and pretended to be you and he didn't notice until I told him!"

Kise laughed and made a mental note to thank Kuroko for playing along later. "Really? Now, you're becoming a real man, aren't you?"

Hayato's grin widened. "Yeah!"

"How's Kurokocchi doing, anyways?", Kise asked Aomine while Hayato gulped down water.

Kuroko and Kagami were in a long distance relationship as Kuroko was playing for the Spurs in San Antonio and Kagami for the Bulls in Chicago.

"He's doin' good", Aomine said and picked up more rice. "Training's good, but he's thinking about retiring and moving in with Bakagami."

"What?! Why?", Kise gasped. "Is it because of his hand?"

The phantom sixth man had broken his right hand when a driver hadn't seen him crossing the road and hit him at almost full speed. His right hand had had three fractures, enough to put Kuroko off his game for months and he hadn't been able to return to the same state as before.

"Yeah", Aomine said and his right arm, the one where he hurt his elbow, twitched in memory of his own injury. "He says he can't play as long as he used to and that month long break took its toll on him. He's 33 now, too... Bakagami and him have had that long distance thing for... what - ten years?"

Kise hummed and swallowed his bite of food. "Mh, I see... I guess it makes sense... Kagamicchi's career is still going well, anyway. But how's it going at the police department, Aominecchi?"

"'S okay", Aomine said with a shrug. "Not the same as basketball. Good enough, though. They don't put me on many shifts, think people will still recognise me as the Cavaliers' ace."

Kise smiled sadly. Aomine had been devastated when his doctors had told him that he would ruin his arm forever if he kept on playing professionally. It had been hard on Kise as well to see his friend like that. It had been almost as bad as seeing Aomine fall into his deep depression during their last year at Teiko.

"Have you heard of Akashi?", Aomine asked. "He's gonna take over the company soon, right?"

Kise nodded. "Yep! His tycoon of a dad Akashi Masaomi has confirmed it during a press conference, I watched it while they styled me for my shoot a few days ago."

"He's engaged now, isn't he?"

Kise glowed. Gossip. His stylists, the photographers and the other models had the best things to tell and Kise loved gossiping.

"Yeah, but it's arranged", he said with a sigh. "I mean, he did try a relationship with his former teammate - Mayuzumi? But that didn't work out... it's hard being hated by the public because he's the 'reason' Akashi Masaomi's perfect son is gay. Mayuzumi doesn't care about what people think of him, but he did care what people thought of Akashicchi because of him. He left him because it endangered Akashicchi's reputation in the company and-"

"Kise."

"Don't interrupt me! So rude!"

"I thought you're super busy all the time", Aomine said with a huff. "How do you know all that stuff?"

Kise laughed and waggled his eyebrows. "Well, you will never know, Aominecchi."

"Daddy, can we go to the aquarium today?", Hayato called.

Kise grimaced inwardly. "Ah... daddy has a shoot later, sorry, little man. Some other time, maybe."

Hayato's face fell and he poked with his chopsticks in the remnants of his veggies. "You always say that and we never go..."

Kise could feel Aomine's worried glance when he faked an apologetic smile. He knew he was spending by far not enough time with his son, but when he didn't have practice or games, he had shoots and when he came home, he was usually too exhausted to do anything with Hayato. Most of the time, he had a migraine to top it all off. Sometimes he wondered if it would be better for his son if he had stayed with his mother... but Kise got angry just at the thought of leaving him with Victoria. Then, he usually wondered if he should actually start looking for a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, another parent in Hayato's life. But he scarcely had time for dates and when he did his date turned out to be a superficial bitch or an arrogant asshole. The ones that weren't didn't like the fact that Kise had a son. Or Hayato didn't like them. Either way, it was a no-go.

"Hey", Kise said softly. "I'm playing against the Bulls next week. You can come watch with Uncle Daiki and when I'm done with the post-match meeting, we can have dinner together. Sounds good?"

Hayato's pout didn't leave his face. "Sounds boring..."

Kise flinched, but kept up his façade. "Hayato-"

"It's always the same! The only person who's really there for me is Lilly-san! Lilly-san's more like a mom to me than mama! And you're not even really my dad anymore!"

Silence fell across the kitchen. Aomine did not dare move a muscle and Kise slowly rose with a dangerously neutral expression on his face.

"Get your backpack and put on your shoes, Hayato", Kise said coolly. "Now."

The boy stared at his father and pointed at his half-eaten bowl of rice. "I'm not done-"

"I said NOW!"

Hayato stuck his lower lip out and crossed his arms in protest. "I don't wanna."

Aomine sucked in a breath.

"Hayato, I'm counting to three. One."

"Nope!"

"Two." Kise's eyes narrowed when he held up two fingers.

"I'm staying here!"

"Three. That's it." Kise marched around the table, pulled his son out of his chair and pointed at the door. "Put on your shoes. We're leaving."

There were tears in the boy's brown eyes. "You can't make me!"

"Oh yes, I can, I'm your father!", Kise said. "Now do as I say."

Thick tears rolled down the boy's cheeks when he turned to Aomine.

"Uncle D-dai", he whimpered and snuffed.

"He's your dad, listen to him", Aomine drawled. "I'm not taking your side, little man."

Hayato sobbed and dashed out of the room with a loud wail.

"Sorry, Kise", Aomine said quietly.

"Nothing to be sorry for, Aominecchi", Kise said and rubbed his face.

"Do you really think-"

"Aomine." Kise didn't use the endearing suffix this time. "I really appreciate your help with Hayato and you're my best friend, but he's my son and I will punish him as I see it fit."

Aomine sighed. "...sure. Just... yeah, don't be too hard on him."

Kise shook his head. "I'm not. I'm just..."

He sighed deeply and smiled weakly. "I'm just trying to do this dad-thing right and I can't help but feel like I'm failing? No matter how many fathers I watch with their kids, I don't seem to learn from them. It's a pretty shitty feeling, Aominecchi."

Aomine coughed and rubbed his neck. His face was turned away when he said: "I think you're doing a pretty decent job. I mean, the alternative was Victoria and she's changing boyfriends all the time."

"Yeah", Kise said quietly and looked at his feet. "But she's there. A parent that's not absent all the time. When I'm gone, all Hayato has is Lilly-san. Better a mother with constantly changing partners than an absent father without a partner."

Kise yelped when the side of Aomine's hand hit his head. "Aominecchi?!"

"Stop that", Aomine drawled with a determined face. "You're the better parent. And the kiddo loves you even though he's being bratty. And you're gonna meet the right person one day and you'll be very happy with them and they'll love Hayato and you're gonna live happily ever after and all that shit. Also, kiddo doesn't have only Lilly, he has me, too."

Kise stared at his friend with awe before beaming at him. "Aominecchi!~"

The taller man grunted when he suddenly had an armful of Kise Ryouta.

"Yeah, yeah", he muttered and wrenched himself free from Kise's embrace. "Now go parenting. I'm doing the dishes."

"It was delicious, Aominecchi! Thank you!"

"God, you're so annoying..."

"Rude!", Kise called and turned around on his way out with a genuinely happy smile, so unlike his model smile that he could literally switch on and off. "Hey, Aominecchi? Thanks."

Aomine felt himself blush and waved him off. "'S okay. Now move or you'll have to help me with the dishes."

Kise grimaced and made his way to the entrance. Hayato was sitting on the stairs to the upper storey and pouted, his little arms wrapped around his knees and his lower lip quivering.

"Come on", Kise said with a sigh once he had put on his shoes. "We're leaving."

Hayato didn't protest this time, followed his father dutifully and climbed on the backseat without whining about wanting to sit in the passenger seat already.

"Hayato", Kise said when they pulled out of the driveway. "I know you're angry with me."

The boy stared out of the window.

Kise sighed and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "Hey... little man. Do you understand why I got angry with you?"

No answer, only stubborn staring out of the window.

"It's because I'm trying to find time for you and me - I'm trying really hard, but I have these two jobs and they rob me of so much time", he continued and before he knew what he was doing, he was ranting. "I come home late with headaches or sore and most of the time you're already in bed by then. I'm sorry for that, Hayato. I can't choose my schedule like other adults. I'm trying to make my manager - Shaniqua, you remember her, right? She bought you Chicken Nuggets the one time you came with me for a shoot. What I'm trying to say is..."

Kise exhaled shakily and clutched the steering wheel. This was hard, so hard. How did Momoicchi and Aida-chan deal with this? And they had two kids!

"You have to honestly and openly tell me when you're bothered by this. I promise I'll try to make time for us two. I promise, okay? Can you promise me that you'll tell me?"

Kise glanced in the rearview mirror. "Hayato?"

Hayato stared at his lap and tears dropped onto his jeans, leaving wet patches.

Kise's eyes widened and he pulled over at the next opportunity. 'Did I do something wrong? Oh god, was it something I said?'

He frantically crawled in the back of the car and cradled his son's face gently.

"Hey, what's wrong, little man?", Kise asked quietly. "Did I say something wrong?"

Hayato bit his lip and shook his head. "No..."

"What is it, then? Tell me, honey, I need to know, please."

"...I didn't mean what I said at Uncle Dai's house, daddy", Hayato whispered and hiccupped. "Y-you're still my dad."

Kise laughed shakily and hugged his son tightly. "Thanks, little man."

* * *

The match against the Chicago Bulls was a close and intense one that the Golden State Warriors won with a buzzer beater, courtesy of one Kise Ryouta, in the fourth quarter.

Kise dragged himself out of the meeting room towards the exit. He had already excused himself with his teammates who wanted to go drinking to celebrate their win.

He found Aomine sitting on one of the benches with Hayato next to him, the two of them watching a video on his phone (Kise very much hoped it wasn't some Mai-chan bikini video).

"Aominecchi! Hayato!", Kise called excitedly and waved.

Hayato looked up from the video and beamed. He jumped off the bench and came running.

"Daddy! You were so awesome! You beat Uncle Taiga's ass!", he babbled and while his smile lit up Kise's world, he hadn't missed the word 'ass'.

He shot Aomine a disapproving look who just shrugged with a smug grin on his face.

"Sure I did, little man", Kise said and grinned at his son. "What do you say, should we let Uncle Taiga and Uncle Tetsuya come with us?"

"Hah?!", Aomine called and his eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Bakagami?!"

"Oi, Kise!", a familiar voice yelled from afar and when he turned he saw Kagami in his red Chicago Bulls sweats and jersey with Kuroko in casual clothes at his side, the two of them holding hands. "You already said we could come, idiot!"

Hayato shrieked in delight. "Uncle Taiga! Uncle Tetsuya!"

Kagami scooped the boy up and squeezed him in a bearlike hug. "Hey ya little brat! Why didn't you cheer for me, huh?"

"Because his father was your opponent, Taiga-kun", Kuroko said in his usual deadpan voice. "It's only natural he'd cheer for Kise-kun."

"No one wants to cheer for you, Bakagami", Aomine snarled, but his eyes were sparkling with laughter.

"What did you say, Ahomine you bastard?!"

"Aomine-kun, Taiga-kun", Kuroko spoke up, just when Kise opened his mouth to let out an indignant screech. "There is a child present. Please refrain from using vulgar words."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry Tetsu, sorry Kise", Aomine mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck. "So, are we going? I'm hungry as fu-"

Kuroko and Kise shot him warning looks and the tanned man gulped. "-very hungry."

"Yeah!", Hayato called and began bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Daddy said we could have McDonald's!"

"Hah?", Kise said. "I didn't! Kagamicchi's gonna cook for us!"

"Oh, is he", Kagami muttered darkly.

"Oi, Kagami", Aomine said with a frown. "Tetsu's sass is influencing you."

Kuroko smiled. "I'm doing my best, Aomine-kun."

* * *

Since four of them were NBA players, even if one of them had retired already, they couldn't take the underground or the bus to get to Kise's apartment. The city was brimming with fans of the Bulls and the Warriors and doubtlessly someone would not only recognise the two team's aces Kagami and Kise, but also recognise the Shadow of the San Antonio Spurs and the living Cavalier legend Aomine Daiki. Therefore, they squeezed into Aomine's five-seat-car that was clearly suffering from transporting three grown men over 190cm. Kuroko, Kagami and Hayato were cramped on the backseats while Kise occupied the passenger seat.

"Kurokocchi", Kise spoke up and turned around to look at his longtime friend. "Is it true you're going to retire?"

"It is", Kuroko replied and a sad look crossed his face when he flexed his previously injured hand. "I'm afraid I can't play like before anymore."

"I would've beaten that driver to a pulp", Aomine grumbled and honked at a stray cycler who cut in before him.

"Now you sound like Haizaki-kun, Aomine-kun", Kuroko said with a soft chuckle.

"About that, I still can't believe that Nijimura-senpai married Shougo-kun!", Kise whined.

"I haven't seen Haizaki as happy as the day of the wedding, though", Aomine muttered. "And Senpai seemed pretty content, too."

"They're a cute couple", Kise said with a solemn nod. "A bit violent, maybe, but cute. That doesn't mean I like Shougo-kun, though! At least he got rid of those terrible cornrows! But what will you do after your retirement, Kurokocchi?"

"We'll be moving in together", Kagami announced and gave Kuroko a loving smile that made Kise's stomach clench in yearning. "In Chicago."

"I will probably put my kindergarten teacher apprenticeship to a good use", Kuroko continued. "That was what I like most after Basketball, after all."

"Can you teach me then, Uncle Tetsuya?", Hayato asked excitedly.

Kise laughed softly. "Little man, you're in grade school already. Kurokocchi's a kindergarten teacher."

Hayato pouted. "So what?"

"Hayato-kun, I'm afraid San Francisco and Chicago have quite a distance", Kuroko said and patted the boy's blond hair.

"There's Skype!", Hayato countered, arms crossed in childish defiance. "Daddy lets me use it all the time to talk to Obaasan and Ojiisan and my aunties!"

"Won't your teacher - what was her name? Miss A... Allen?", Aomine said and threw a clueless look at Kise.

"Amber", Kise corrected.

"Right, Miss Amber. She'd be sad if you abandon her for Tetsu, right?"

That made the boy think.

"Sorry, Uncle Tetsuya", he said eventually, his little face scrunched up in thought. "But I can't leave Miss Amber."

Kuroko smiled. "That's a pity, Hayato-kun. She must be an extraordinary teacher."

Hayato grinned and immediately started babbling about Miss Amber, brown eyes glowing in excitement, switching between Japanese and English.

"Hayato", Kise pointed out. "Decide if you want to speak Japanese or English. Don't mix it up."

"Yeah, daddy~", the boy groaned and settled for Japanese.

The car pulled up at the gate to the high security apartment complex and Kise leant out of the window to the intercom.

"Mr Roberts, good evening!", he called cheerfully and waved at the camera. "It's me, Ryouta Kise."

"This is not your car, Mr Kise", the portier spoke, his grumpy voice crackling through the intercom.

"It's my friend's. Daiki Aomine. He and my friends will stay for tonight."

"Alright", Mr Roberts said and with a low buzz, the gate swung open and the garage's gate slid up. "Hope ya have a nice evening, Mr Kise."

"Thank you!", Kise called cheerfully before Aomine steered the car into the garage, parking next to Kise's sleek white Mercedes.

"Alright, everyone, get out", Aomine drawled and locked the car when its passengers had finally maneouvred themselves out of the seats.

Hayato yawned. It was well past his bedtime already, but Kise had promised him to stay up longer to compensate for their lack of together-time the past few weeks.

"Hey~", Aomine said with a fond smile. "Don't fall asleep on me now, little man."

Hayato pouted, but he had to yawn again. "'M not sleepy."

His godfather laughed, ducked down and lifted the boy on his shoulders. Hayato shrieked in surprise, but laughed when he was settled. Kise didn't fail to notice Aomine's hiss of pain when he lifted his godson up. Undoubtedly, his elbow protested.

"Daddy, I'm taller than you now!", Hayato called in excitement. "And taller than Uncle Taiga and Uncle Tetsuya too!"

"Not like Tetsuya's hard to surpass- OW!"

Kuroko blinked innocently as if he hadn't just jammed his fingers into his boyfriend's ribs. "I doubt you actually plan to finish this sentence, Taiga-kun."

Kagami grunted, rubbed his side and followed the others upstairs to the reception. Mr Johnson was replaced with the night shift, Mr Rodriguez.

"Buenos tardes, señor!", Kise greeted him and explained in fluent, albeit with an accent, Spanish that his friends would stay for the night and leave on the morrow, the car was in the garage. He gave Mr Rodriguez, who had lightened up a little when Kise approached him in his native tongue, their names which were then noted in the book.

Thankfully, the lift was quite spacious, a nice change from Aomine's car, which wasn't even that small, it was just not designed to pack four NBA players.

Aomine had to put Hayato down in the lift, but the boy still clung to his leg, trying to hide his yawn.

"Kagamicchi, Lilly-san bought ingredients for Oyakodon", Kise said while the numbers on the display mounted. "Aominecchi's cooking stopped sucking, so he can help you!"

"Oi, Kise, don't just decide stuff on yourself", Aomine grumbled.

"Last time Ahomine cooked, he burned eggs", Kagami muttered, remembering the Generation of Miracles' vacation in their third year at Akashi's beach house with their plus-ones. "Even Tetsuya's better."

"OI!"

"Thank you, Taiga-kun."

The lift's doors opened with a 'ping' and Kise ushered them outside and down the hallway.

"Did we forget someone in the lift? Hold on!" He looked around in panic. "Where's Kurokocchi?!"

"I'm right here, Kise-kun."

Kise screamed and jumped about five feet into the air.

"Kise, hush!", Aomine growled and clamped a hand shut over the blond's mouth. He was shaking from his own shock at Kuroko's sudden appearance beside him, though. "There's people sleeping!"

"I'm sorry!", Kise whisper-shouted and opened the door to his apartment with shaky hands. "I'll never get used to Kurokocchi's habits!"

"You've known me for 20 years, Kise-kun", Kuroko said in that monotone voice of his. "I'm disappointed."

Hayato squeezed past his uncles into the apartment and flicked the light switch with a cheerful: "Tadaima~!"

"Okaerinasai", Kuroko said dutifully, being the polite Japanese man he was.

They pulled off their shoes in the entry and then padded into the huge living room.

"Kagamicchi, do you want some fresh comfy clothes?", Kise asked, itching to get out of his Warriors uniform jersey. "I might have some that could fit you!"

Kagami was broader than Kise, but they had the same height, so finding a loose shirt or an oversized sweater or something shouldn't be too difficult.

"That would be cool, thanks man", Kagami replied and dropped his sports bag next to the couch.

"Alright~! I'll go pick some out!"

Kise bounced into his walk-in wardrobe, grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt too big for him, a pair of boxers and socks, and deposited them in the bathroom. Since Kagami, Kuroko and Aomine would spend the night here, he might as well give Kagami new underwear. Kuroko had packed some things as he hadn't intended to return to San Antonio the same night and Aomine had clothes at the guest room anyway.

"Kagamicchi~! I put them in the bathroom! First door on the left!", he told his friend and then flopped next to Hayato on the couch with a long sigh. "Ugh, this was exhausting~"

"What, picking out clothes for Bakagami?", Aomine grumbled while preparing the pots and knives for the Oyakodon.

"Why do you sound so bitter, Aominecchi?", Kise whined and leaned onto his son ("You're crushing me, dad!"). "It's not like you're my boyfriend or stuff."

Aomine stiffened slightly and then threw an apple at Kise. "I'm your best friend, idiot!"

"Aww, Aominecchi is jealous~!"

"What the- I'm not!"

"You are~!"

"Kise!"

"Could you postpone your little marriage crisis?", Kuroko spoke up and Kise screeched while Aomine almost dropped the pots.

"Kurokocchi!!"

"Tetsu, what the fuck?!"

Kuroko blinked, unfazed by his friends' reaction. "You would make a good couple."

Kise's face was completely red and Aomine was blushing so hard that even his dark skin couldn't hide it.

"I think so too!", Hayato piped up and scrunched up his little face that was so much like Kise's own. "Much better than any of dad's boring girlfriends and boyfriends."

Kise his his face in his hands. "Hayato! Oh my god!"

"I'm done, can we- bwahahaha!" Kagami entered the room in Kise's clothes and doubled over in laughter at the sight. "Aomine, why are you so red?!"

"Shut up, Bakagami", Aomine snarled and turned to begin the cooking. "Get over here and cook, you bastard!"

"Aomine-kun, language."

"Dammit, Tetsu, shut up!"

"...Aomine-kun, language."

" _Tetsu!!_ "

* * *

Hayato fell asleep halfway through dinner and Kise carefully carried his son, gently as not to wake him up, into his room and tucked the boy in.

"So, Kagamicchi and Kurokocchi take the guest room", Kise announced after they had finished cleaning up. "Aominecchi, I'm not banishing you to the couch again, you'll do nothing but whine the next day! My bed's big enough for both of us!"

"Just don't smother me again", Aomine grumbled and yawned. "Big bed's no use if you plaster yourself on me."

"So mean, Aominecchi!"

About 15 minutes later, Kise flopped into bed with a long and tired sigh. His whole body was sore and hurting from the match, it didn't matter that he won - Kagami Taiga and his team had been more than formidable opponents.

"Oi, what's smelling so weird?", Aomine mumbled from his right, hogging the blankets. "Did you put some gross lotion on your face again?"

"Gross?", Kise squawked and sat upright. "This is expensive and high-quality moisturizer, I'll let you know!"

Aomine chuckled and cracked one eye open. "You should try my product."

"Aominecchi uses products? Spill!"

"Water. Does the job fantastically."

Kise gaped and then hit his friend with a pillow. "Oh my god, Aominecchi, I hate you!"

The tanned man groaned and halfheartedly tried to block Kise's vicious pillow-attack. "Ugh, lemme sleep!"

Kise finally dropped the pillow and rolled on his side with a big pout on his face. "Why am I even friends with you??"

Another chuckle. "You love me, Kise."

He sighed and pinched Aomine's side, making the other man yelp in pained surprise. "Unfortunately, I do. Aominecchi is such a brute, though."

"...just go to sleep, Kise."

* * *

The shrill beeping of Kise's alarm woke them in the morning.

"Kise, what the fuck", Aomine slurred and hit around himself, blindly trying to shut off the noise, slapping Kise in the face in the progress.

"Aominecchi~", he whined and tried to block his bedmate's uncontrollably flailing arms. "Stop- ouch! - hitting me! Ow!"

"Fucking hell, where the fuck is that god _fucking_ damn alarm!", Aomine swore and draped himself across Kise to slam his hand on the alarm clock, making it stop beeping at last.

"Fucking finally", he grumbled and all tension left his body.

"Aominecchi?!", Kise squawked and tried to shove his friend off him. "Don't fall asleep on me! Oi! Aominecchi! You're heavy, idiot! Roll off!"

"Nah~", Aomine slurred and nuzzled against Kise's shoulder with a sleepy smile. "You're warm... stop moving so much."

Kise twisted his legs and bucked his hips in a desperate attempt to get his completely slack and heavy friend off him. "Aomine, I'm serious! You're smothering me!"

"Don't be such a wuss, Ryouta..."

Kise immediately stopped his flailing and instead poked Aomine's cheek resting on his shoulder. "Ne, Aominecchi, did big gruff Mr Policeman just call me by my given name?"

Suddenly, Kise's shoulder heated up and he realised with a start that Aomine was actually blushing.

"Must have slipped out", he mumbled and slapped Kise's hand away. "Stop poking me!"

"But you're so cute when you're flustered like that!", Kise gushed and ruffled already sleep-tousled navy-blue hair.

"What the fuck?! I'm not cute, you little-"

"Are you now, Dai~ki~?"

Aomine rolled off Kise in almost panicked hurry and burrowed his face in a pillow. The tips of his ears were bright red. "Kise, stop it!"

Kise laughed, sprawled across Aomine's back and whispered in his ear: "Only if you call me Ryouta again, come on, Dai~ki~! You can do it."

"Fuck off, Ryouta!"

Kise pouted. "So mean, Aominecchi!"

He rolled off and leaned over to grab his phone. He didn't have practice tonight, but they would have a meeting to revise the game against the Bulls yesterday. Speaking of which, Kise was sore all over.

"Hey, Kise."

Kise hummed and opened a text from his manager. "What is it, Aominecchi?"

The other man cleared his throat. "I could call you by your given name, right? Like, instead of your surname. Normally. Without it being... weird or stuff."

Kise stopped mid-text and turned around. Aomine was not blushing, but he was fiddling with the hem of his baggy sleep shirt.

"Of course you can!", he said and gave his friend a bright smile. "We've been friends for what, 20 years?"

"Yeah", Aomine mumbled and then reached over to pinch Kise's nose. "Imma wake Hayato."

"Aominecchi!", Kise cried and clutched his nose. "You bastard!"

Aomine shot him a lazy grin and climbed out of bed and damn, the months without practice were showing a bit, but Aomine Daiki still had these toned, muscular arms that Kise was drooling after.

Kise was suddenly glad that Aomine had slept in a shirt. He wouldn't know what to do if he was confronted with a half-naked Aomine - which was stupid, really. Back at Teiko he had seen Aomine completely naked in the showers every day, when he had still come to practice. He really shouldn't behave like this - he was a grown man!

A loud shriek startled him out of his thoughts and seconds later Hayato dashed into his room, shrieking like a madman and grinning with the light of a thousand suns.

"Daddy! Daddy, save me!", he yelled and before Kise could even ask from what he needed saving, Aomine came running with a devilish smirk and scooped the child up with triumphant laughter.

"Ha! Gotcha!"

Hayato giggled and squirmed when Aomine started tickling him and pulled his Iron Man shirt up to blow raspberries on his back.

"Daddy!", Hayato shrieked and wiggled even more, gasping for breath from laughing so hard. "Save me!"

Kise laughed and climbed out of bed, disregarding the protest of his sore muscles. "Ne, Aominecchi, lay it off! He can't breathe!"

True to that, Hayato was going a bit red in the face, so Aomine chuckled and dropped the boy on Kise's king-size bed. "You got away this time, little man!"

Kise gave him a playful shove. "Exhausting him first thing in the morning! Daiki, you big meanie!"

Aomine coughed and stared at Kise with his mouth slightly open at the genuine use of his given name. Kise felt his cheeks heat up when his best friend's startled expression morphed into a smile so soft it was usually reserved for Hayato. Back when his son had been little more than a baby, Aomine would often enough carry him around to get him to sleep while humming and looking at the child in his arms with exactly that expression.

"Are you gonna kiss?"

Kise and Aomine broke eye contact and Kise started sputtering.

"Haya— Hayato!!", he squawked and tried to hide his burning face. "You can't just— say stuff like that!"

Hayato pouted, his little face still flushed from the tickling session. "Why~? You just looked at each other like Uncle Taiga and Uncle Tetsuya before they kiss. It's gross."

Aomine cleared his throat. "Yo, Hayato, when two guys look at each other like Tetsu and Kagami, that's not gross. S'the same like your mama and dad back then."

"Daiki", Kise said quietly. "Don't bring her up."

"Mama and Daddy didn't look at each other like that, ever", Hayato argued and crossed his arms. "Uncle Tetsu and Uncle Taiga are not gross, but kissing is soooooooo gross. Ew."

"Oh, is it?" Kise's eyes started to sparkle with mischief and he plunged himself back on the bed, trapping Hayato with his long arms and peppered his face with smooching kisses.

"Daaaaaddyyyyyyyy!", the boy shrieked and tried to crawl away in horror. "Uncle Dai~! Help me!"

* * *

Kise and Kagami still had about two hours until they had to turn up for their respective meetings, so the five of them where lounging on the couch in front of the TV watching a re-run of the game yesterday.

"Oi, that was my fadeaway formless shot you used there, Ryouta", Aomine grumbled, his knee touching Kise's where the blond sat cross-legged. Hayato was sitting on his lap, playing games on Kise's iPad.

Kise grinned. "Heh~ sorry, Daiki. I just had to use it there!"

Kagami swore under his breath. "Sure you had. You completely screwed up my timing for the block there."

"Weeeeell, that was sort of the goal, Kagamicchi~"

"Daddy", Hayato complained. "The battery's low."

"The charger's in the drawer, little man", Kise said with a sigh. "I just charged it yesterday, though! Did you play games on it yesterday when I was at my shoot?"

The boy pouted and climbed off his godfather's lap to fetch the charger. "I was boooored."

"Next time you're bored you just call me, 'kay?", Aomine said and Kise felt a rush of affection for his longtime friend course through him. "I'll see if I can come over."

"Thanks, Daiki", Kise said with a warm grin.

Hayato beamed at the prospect of having his godfather come over even more often. "Aw yeay! We're gonna have lots of fun, right, Pops?"

All four men froze at that simple word from Hayato's lips. Kuroko's blue eyes narrowed, Kagami's jaw hung open and Kise felt like his world had stopped moving.

"Uh— yeah, 'course", Aomine managed to say and his knee pressed against Kise's leg even more. "Tons of fun, kiddo."

Kise barely heard the game's commentator over the blood rushing in his ears. Hayato — his son — had called Aomine — his best friend and teenage crush back in Teiko — Pops.

"Whoops, my phone's buzzing!", he exclaimed hastily and stood, casting Aomine a meaningful look. "I'll be in my room for a sec, alright~?"

"Sure, sure", Kagami muttered.

Kise disappeared down the hallway into his room and waited. Only a few minutes later, Aomine entered the room as well and closed the door behind him.

"I just really heard that, right?", Kise asked quietly, arms crossed and eyes resting calmly on Aomine's. "He called you 'Pops'."

"It's not the first time", Aomine muttered. "He's called me that twice before. When you weren't there."

Kise swallowed. "You didn't tell me?"

Aomine shifted on his feet. "Didn't want to make ya uncomfortable. Or not let him see me anymore."

The blond man sighed and stepped forward, placing both hands on his friend's shoulders. "I wouldn't do that. Daiki, you're important to me. And to Hayato as well." Kise smiled softly. "After all, he considers you a parent, right?"

Aomine cursed under his breath. "Look, Ryouta, I don't wanna take him away from you or anything stupid like that—"

"I didn't think so, really!", Kise hurriedly said and lifted one hand to rub his temple. "It's just... funny. I had the worst crush on you in middle school and now my son calls you 'Pops'? The irony."

Aomine's breath hitched. "You had a crush on me? What the hell?"

Kise pouted. "C'mon, Daiki. Literally everyone noticed. Even Midorimacchi did and _he_ only realised Takao-kun was in love with him when they graduated university. I was so obvious."

"...I didn't realise." Aomine's voice was strangely quiet and somber.

"Don't feel bad about it!", Kise said hurriedly, beaming at his friend. "It was a stupid teenage crush. Really. I'm over it, so no worries."

His phone buzzed for real inside his pocket and Kise sighed when he glanced at the screen to check the caller ID.

"That's Shaniqua, I gotta take that."

Aomine shrugged. "Kay. I'll go back to the others."

* * *

Kise didn't mention the "pops"-incident again. He wouldn't berate his son for seeing another parental figure in his godfather. He couldn't. Aomine was so happy whenever he was around Hayato and seeing him like had been too rare for a long time, especially after his injury and forced retirement from pro basketball. And Hayato was just as happy around Aomine.

"You're distracted", his make-up artist, Jackie, said. "Anything on your mind, Kiki?"

Kise had long ago resigned to the weird nickname. "Kinda?"

"Alright, shoot", she said and pointed up. "Eyes up."

Kise complied and let her apply the eyeliner. "My son called his godfather 'pops'."

Jackie didn't stop. "Oh?"

"Daiki's my best friend", Kise continued while Jackie moved on to the other eye. "And I had a crush on him in middle school, so it was kind of awkward."

"Oh, yeah, I can imagine", Jackie muttered and stepped back, putting away the eyeliner and reaching for lip primer. "And that crush just went away?"

Kise waited until Jackie capped the lip primer again. "I guess? I didn't go into cardiac arrest everytime I saw him after a while. And we've been friends for 20 years, Jackie."

The make-up artist leaned forward to start working on lining his lips. "20? Wow, that's a long time."

Kise hummed and smacked his lips once. "I think... I think _he_ might be having a crush on me now."

Jackie waggled her eyebrows and unscrewed two shades of lipstick, comparing them. "Oooooh, the tables have turned, huh? Why d'you think that? Nuh-uh, don't answer now, Kiki, it's time for the lipstick."

He waited dutifully until Jackie had finished with the lipstick and smacked his lips twice afterwards. "Just looking back at how he acts around me sometimes? Especially when I offhandedly say things like 'I could kiss you' or stuff like that. He's blushing, Jackie. He _never_ blushes."

"Hun, he really might have a crush on you!", Jackie called and stepped aside to let Kise look in the mirror. "You likey?"

Kise turned his head a few times and gave his trademark model thousand dollar smile. "Yep! Great job as usual!"

"Thanks, doll!" Jackie grabbed her brushes and moved to the sink. "So, what you gonna do about your friend?"

"No idea." He sighed and rolled his shoulders. "My son's staying at his place this afternoon, they're going to the zoo. Maybe I'll talk to him when I pick Hayato up."

"Do whatcha think's right, Kiki."

"Ryouta!" Shaniqua walked over, her phone in her hand as usual. "Great, you're done. Come on, the photographer's waiting."

"Coming~!", Kise sang and rose. "See you, Jackie!"

* * *

" _Dai-chan?_ " Momoi sounded like she'd just woken up. " _Do you have any idea what time it is here?_ "

Aomine did. "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. Satsuki, I really fucked up this time."

" _Oh god. What did you do?_ "

Aomine let his head fall forward and mumbled: "I— I think Kise might be onto it. I think he— I think he knows. That I'm. You know."

" _In love with him?_ ", Momoi supplied helpfully.

"Yeah."

Momoi hummed. " _What makes you think that?_ "

He reached up to run a hand through messy dark blue hair. "Hayato called me Pops in front of him today. And I got super awkward about it. Kise's not dumb. I wasn't really as subtle as I wanted to be, anyway, ya know?"

" _I can imagine. It's not easy to hide a crush for — seven years?_ "

"Eight", Aomine said and groaned. Eight years? Shit, he was so hooked. "Don't call it a crush. I had a crush on Mai-chan. Kise's... different."

Momoi sighed. " _Dai-chan... this has been going on for nearly a decade. You need to come clean at some point._ "

Aomine let out a mirthless laugh. "And ruin the one good thing I got going for me? Pass. If I fuck this up, I'll lose 'em."

" _I have a feeling you won't._ "

"No offense, but full offense, Satsuki, this is too important to rely on your feeling only."

" _Suit yourself._ " Momoi huffed. " _If you're going to be all snappy about it, I'll go back to sleep. I have three toddlers to take care of_."

Aomine blinked owlishly. "Three? When did you and Aida have a third?"

" _Oh, around thirty-three years ago. Yes, his name is Aomine Daiki and he needs to grow up!_ "

Aomine glared into nothingness. "Shut up, Satsuki. You dunno how I'm feeling right now."

" _Dai-chan, you have been pouring your sad gay feelings out to me for eight years now. I think I do know how you're feeling_." There was a rustling sound. " _Ki-chan had a ginormous crush on you in Teiko and through most of his time at Kaijo. Even if he doesn't reciprocate those feelings, he'll understand. And he'd never, ever, deprive Hayato-kun of you._ "

Aomine rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming, but he still had to take Hayato to the zoo, a migraine was the last thing he needed. "I... yeah. Thanks, Satsuki."

" _You're welcome, Dai-chan. Good luck._ "

"Thanks. Sleep well."

The line clicked when Momoi hung up and Aomine fell back against the back of his couch with a long, drawn-out groan.

Momoi had been urging him to tell Kise for years — she had only stopped when Kise married Victoria. That time hadn't been good to Aomine at all and it only got better when Kise asked him to be his newborn son's godfather. Aomine felt terrible when three years after Hayato's birth Kise's marriage fell apart and he was happy about it.

Now, when Hayato considered him a parent and Kise and him were closer than ever, Victoria out of the picture, the chances of acceptance were greater than ever — but so was the tumble he would take if he was rejected.

Aomine rolled over and burrowed his head in a pillow. Mulling over it wouldn't help anything. He'd have to calm the fuck down, pull himself together and then go and pick Hayato up from school. No more pining today.

* * *

"Uncle Dai?"

Aomine glanced down at his godson who was pressed to the glass of the monkey enclosure. "Yeah?"

"Do you like Daddy?"

Aomine grimaced. Why was a five year old so perceptive? Curse his genes.

"Sure. We're best friends. We've known each other _twenty_ years." Aomine squatted to be on the same level as Hayato, who was still watching the monkeys in awe. "You know how much twenty is?"

He shook his head.

"That's four times your life."

Hayato turned and his jaw dropped. "Wuoah!"

Aomine grinned. "Pretty long, huh?"

"Yeah!" Hayato nodded furiously, then his young face turned thoughtful. "Why aren't you and Daddy married?"

Aomine almost lost his balance. "What?"

Hayato turned back to the monkeys. "Mama left really soon. And Daddy said he met her two years before I was born!"

Aomine suppressed a flinch. Oh, he remembered when Kise met Victoria Morelli. He hadn't stopped talking about how pretty and witty she was for weeks. Aomine had put on a smirk, made the expected dirty comment and ignored the painful clenching sensation in his chest. The day Kise had called him all excited to tell him he had proposed to Victoria, she had said yes and that he wanted him to be best man, Aomine had congratulated him, confirmed, hung up and locked himself in his bathroom to cry.

Then, two weeks before the wedding, Aomine had played against the Lakers and with a gruesome sound, two of his elbow tendons had snapped during one of his free shots. His elbow had dislocated with a crack and the entire stadium had screamed alongside him. Still, he had stood at the altar next to Kise, on the wrong side, his right arm completely immobilised, pain throbbing through him both physically and emotionally, while he watched Kise beam at his approaching bride. He hadn't stayed long and spent the entire evening and night in his house in Cleveland, drinking. At Kise's insisting, he had moved in with them for a week before getting the small house in the suburbs. He wasn't that much of a sadomasochist to watch the man he loved dote on his wife 24/7.

Then, Victoria had become pregnant, only a bit of a year after the wedding. Aomine had deemed this the irreversible end of his chances with Kise, who had supported him through his injury, recovery, retirement and depression. Until Kise asked him to be godfather and all of his painful feelings for his former teammate flared up again with a vengeance. Hayato had been born — and Aomine almost cried when he first held him.

Shortly before Hayato's second birthday, Kise and Victoria started fighting. Hayato would spend more and more days in Aomine's care while his parents yelled at each other. Victoria cheated and Kise filed for a divorce. Aomine hadn't been this happy in a while, and he had felt terrible about it. Victoria moved to New York City and Kise gained sole custody of Hayato.

Now here they were.

"So if you know daddy _twenty years_ ", Hayato counted it on his fingers and frowned when he saw that he didn't have enough on both hands, "then why don't _you_ marry him, Pops?"

Aomine wanted to explain it all to Hayato in detail, how much he'd love to marry Kise, if the boy would understand it.

"It doesn't work like that, champ", Aomine said and cringed internally at how much like a suburban dad he sounded. "Wanna see the giraffes next?"

"Yeah!", Hayato cheered and grabbed Aomine's hand. "Let's go!"

* * *

Kise was bonetired by the time he got to Aomine's house. He had been ushered from shoot to changing room to make-up all day long with scarcely a break. Then, HR had wanted to talk to him about his contract (always fun) and that had been the death sentence to his energy. Basketball left him tired in a good way, where he felt like he'd collapse any second, but he was still in high spirits. Modelling had been nothing but tedious recently, the jobs more of a chore than anything else. Maybe he should get a new manager — Shaniqua knew him like her own pocket, but the jobs she arranged for him had been dull and repetitive. He'd have to talk to her about that.

Kise dragged himself out of the car and to the front door. As much as he had missed Hayato, he wasn't looking forward to entertaining the quirks of his son now. Hopefully the day with Aomine had powered him out.

"Wow. Trying to land a role as a Walking Dead extra?"

Kise rolled his eyes at Aomine and squeezed past him into the house. "Very funny, Aominecchi."

"I do what I do." He closed the door and leaned against it while Kise untied his shining Oxfords. "Tough day?"

Kise groaned. "You have no idea."

Aomine was dressed into loose sweatpants and the faded Warriors t-shirt Kise had given him when he signed his contract with them. He had his arms crossed and frowned down on Kise.

"What?"

"You're overworking yourself again."

"Am not." Kise stretched and sighed when his back popped. What he'd give for a similar dress attire to Aomine. His suitpants and button-down were too uncomfortable. "Do you have some clothes I can borrow? These are killing me."

Aomine blinked. "Sure. You know where."

"Thanks, Daiki." Kise rose and blew a stray strand of hair out of his face. "Where's Hayato?"

"Dead asleep", Aomine said and jerked his thumb towards the guest room. "The zoo completely tired him out."

"Thank god", Kise breathed out and patted Aomine's bicep. "You're a lifesaver, Aominecchi. Be right back!"

He went upstairs, into Aomine's bedroom and snatched a pair of sweatpants and a black t-shirt out of his closet (which had no system at all, Kise would have to take on this monstrosity some time). He changed quickly, sighing in relief when he could finally move freely. He padded downstairs again and his chest warmed when he found Aomine at the kitchen table, pouring roasted green tea.

'He really is a lifesaver.'

"Thanks", he said softly and slid onto the chair opposite Aomine who pushed one of the cups towards him.

"Don't sweat it", Aomine muttered and sipped at his tea. "Seriously, Ryouta, you need to cut down on the modelling gigs. You're well off enough to last two lifetimes and easily pay for tuition at an Ivy League college for Hayato without having to go into debt. You don't need the modelling anymore."

Kise sighed and wrapped his hands around the hot cup. "I know. It used to be fun."

"Used to?"

"It's become pretty... boring. And tedious." Kise let out another sigh. "I'll talk to Shaniqua."

Aomine kicked him underneath the table. "You better. Or I'll drag your sorry ass to her."

"Mean!" Kise laughed and settled his head on his crossed arms on the table. He looked at Aomine who gave him that soft smile he usually directed at Hayato again. "Daiki?"

"Hm?"

"Do you consider yourself Hayato's parent?"

Aomine's smile immediately vanished and Kise found himself missing it immediately. "What? Kise—"

"Ryouta", Kise corrected. "Remember? And don't worry, I'm not mad, not at all. Just curious."

Aomine avoided his eyes. "I— what kind of question is that. You're his dad and Victoria is his mom."

"On his birth certificate only", Kise muttered. He hadn't seen Victoria once since he won custody. Neither had Hayato. "So, do you?"

Aomine fiddled with his tea. "I mean. I basically raised him. And I love the little guy. I'd do anything for him, probably." He glanced at Kise. "So. Yeah. I don't mind when he calls me Pops, because that's what I am."

Kise chuckled. "For that, you'd have to be with me, Daiki."

Aomine coughed and flushed. "Uhm."

Kise grinned. "Just teasing, Aominecchi."

"What if I was?"

Kise stopped his cup halfway to his mouth and glanced at Aomine through his lashes. "What?"

Aomine looked like he'd rather be anywhere else but here right now.

"What if I was with you", he said and before Kise could react, he went on, so fast Kise had trouble catching everything: "Look, you probably noticed this, but I'm pretty fucking in love with you. I'm unsubtle as fuck about it. I've been in love with you for eight years and if Victoria was the worst fucking thing that happened to me, then me becoming Hayato's godfather was the best. I love you and I love that kid. I probably would have killed myself after my injury if it wasn't for you, Ryouta, and you're who I look forward to seeing every day. Which sounds sappy as shit."

"Daiki—"

"I haven't been using Hayato to get close to you, don't ever think that. I love that kid like he's my own and I would really, really like for him to be. And more than that I want you because, yeah, I'm super gay for you and—"

"Daiki!"

Aomine shut up and glanced at Kise who was looking at him with an unreadable expression.

"Forget I said anything", Aomine said and shrunk in on himself, something Kise had never even seen him do before.

"Forget you confessing that you've been in love with me since before I married and had a kid?" Kise shook his head. "Definitely not. Daiki, look at me."

Aomine reluctantly looked up, jaw clenched and brows furrowed. Kise was looking at him with a gentle smile, dressed in Aomine's clothes, in Aomine's kitchen with Aomine's favourite tea set (because he was so old he now had a preferred tea set) in front of him.

"I had the worst crush on you in Teiko and during our first year of High School", Kise said and Aomine's stomach clenched. They missed each other by just that much. Why had teenage Aomine Daiki been such a self-absorbed idiot to not see how wonderful and gorgeous Kise Ryouta was? "I'm not sure if it ever really passed, to be honest."

Aomine's head jerked up and his heart started beating almost embarrassingly fast. "What—?"

Kise sighed and ran a hand through his blond hair. "Daiki, I would love being your boyfriend."

Aomine grimaced. "But?"

Kise smiled sadly. "But I have Hayato to think about. I don't know how he'd handle it if you went from being fun Uncle Dai to becoming his second dad. He's only _five_ , Daiki. And if things wouldn't work out for some reason, he would lose his godfather and stepdad at once. Things would never go back to the way they were before."

"We've been friends for 20 years", Aomine heard himself say. "And we never killed each other."

"We were close to, a few times", Kise said and shook his head with a smile. "A relationship is different. I need to talk about this with Hayato first and foremost."

Aomine nodded. "I get that."

"Please don't be mad?"

"At your puppy dog eyes?"

"Oh, they work on you?"

"Shuddup."

Kise chuckled and sipped the last of his tea. "I'll get Hayato. Can I return these clothes tomorrow?"

"Sure." Aomine rose and rubbed the back of his neck. "Need help carrying him?"

"I've seen how you favour your left arm today. No way are you carrying him and busting your elbow even further."

Aomine grimaced. Too perceptive. "Fine."

Kise put on his shoes again (which looked pretty funny in combination with Aomine's casual clothes) and tiptoed into the guest room. He came out carrying his sleeping five year old and Aomine felt reminded of how Hayato had fit into the crook of his arm as a tiny newborn.

Kise mouthed 'his bag' and Aomine picked up the kid's backpack, following Kise outside. He strapped Hayato into his seat and turned to Aomine again.

"I'll talk to you, alright?"

Aomine shrugged, forced nonchalance painfully obvious. "I guess."

Kise nodded. "Alright. Goodnight, Daiki."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Work at the station had been nothing short of a nightmare. Aomine had barely slept all night and he'd been absent from the happenings at work for half of the time. To be fair, he only did this so he wasn't bored out of his mind — his years as a Cleveland Cavaliers regular and ace had provided monetary funds for the rest of his life if he spent it wisely.

But still. He hadn't been able to focus on anything at all, mind always drifting to whatever Kise might be doing now and if he had talked to Hayato already.

This was terrible.

"Hey, Aomine!", his colleague, Rory, called. "Quit daydreaming. Sergeant's called a meeting."

Aomine groaned. "Coming."

The meeting could have been an email. All Aomine could do was fall asleep internally while keeping his eyes open (a skill he had mastered in High School) and hope for it to be over soon. Rory nudged him when the Sergeant dismissed them and Aomine left the briefing room alongside his colleagues.

"You're really out of it today", Rory said and gave Aomine a once-over. "What's up? Girl trouble?"

"You could say that", Aomine muttered. He was only out to his friends and family, not to the press or any of his colleagues or Cavaliers teammates.

Rory laughed good-naturedly. "Ah, good luck, dude. She'd be stupid to let you go!"

Aomine gave him a slack salute in thanks and grabbed his phone. His heart almost stopped.

> _One missed call: Kise Ryouta._

Rory glanced at him from his desk. "You okay?"

Aomine jolted. "Uh. Yeah."

"Your girl?"

Aomine wanted to correct him, but not today. Not here. Rory was a good guy, but not everyone here was. "Yeah."

Rory winked. "Go get her. We're holding down the fortress here."

Aomine blinked. "You sure?"

"Sure", Rory said and grinned. "I'll cover for you with the sergeant. Go!"

Aomine grabbed his car keys and was gone within the minute.

* * *

Kise sighed. Of course Aomine hadn't picked up, he was at work. Not everyone could fiddle around on their phone as much during the way Kise could when on his modelling jobs.

"Daddy, when's Uncle Dai coming?", Hayato called from the living room where he was watching his favourite cartoon. "You told him I want him to be my Pops, right?"

Kise smiled. "Of course I did. He's at work, little man, I'm sure he—"

The intercom buzzing interrupted him. Kise frowned and pressed on accept. "Yes?"

" _Hello, Mr Kise._ " Ah, the new substitute doorman. " _There's a police officer demanding to be let up._ "

Police officer?

"Well, has he told you his name and what he needs to see me for?", Kise asked. It could be Aomine, but it could also be a legitimate officer (not that Aomine wasn't one).

" _Daiki Aomine, sir._ "

Kise's stomach flipped. "Send him up."

" _Yes, sir_."

The intercom turned off with a soft crackle and Kise called for Hayato.

"Uncle Dai's coming!", he called and Hayato immediately came running, golden eyes wide.

"Really?!", he squawked and barrelled into Kise's leg.

Kise smiled at him and pulled the door open just in time to show Aomine basically running out of the elevator.

"Hi!", Hayato shrieked and ran, Aomine scooping him up out of instinct. Kise didn't miss his wince and the way he immediately shifted the majority of Hayato's weight to hid left arm.

"Hi", Aomine said and looked at Kise. "I had a briefing."

"I kinda guessed", Kise said and shook his head. "So there lie your priorities."

"Shuddup", Aomine grumbled. "Not everyone can play candy crush nonstop while at work."

Kise stuck his tongue out at him and Aomine smirked.

"Uncle Dai, Uncle Dai!", Hayato called and pulled at Aomine's hair to get his attention.

"Hayato, don't do that!", Kise called. "Daiki, come in."

Aomine stepped inside and Hayato ahd stopped pulling at his hair and was now pinching his cheek. "Oi, Hayato, stop!"

Hayato let go with a pout. "Daddy lets me do that!"

"That's a lie, I always tell you no when you do", Kise said.

"But if you let me do it, then Uncle Dai should let me too!"

Aomine lifted an eyebrow and put the boy down on one of the designer chairs in the dining room. "Why's that?"

"Cause Daddy and I decided you're really my Pops!", Hayato called and puffed his chest out.

Aomine's head whipped around and his jaw hung open a little when he stared at Kise.

Great. Classic kid behaviour. Kise hid his face in his hands with a groan. "Thanks for stealing my thunder, little man."

Hayato cocked his head. "How do you steal thunder?"

Aomine chuckled. "He means that you said what he wanted to say."

"Oh!" Hayato's face lit up. "Daddy, can I have your iPad?"

"It's in the living room", Kise said with a sigh and Hayato dashed off. "So, hi, Daiki."

"Hi", Aomine said and rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess you talked to him?"

Kise chuckled. "Yeah. He was ecstatic, even when I pointed out the risks."

"Sheesh. He's got too much energy."

Kise sighed. "You tell me."

For a second, they were both quiet. Aomine was pretty sure the last time that had happened was on the court during their last Cavaliers vs. Warriors match.

"Look, Aominecchi", Kise said and laughed nervously, a hand coming up to pull at his bangs. "I'm still anxious that Hayato and I will lose you if we fuck this up, but I don't think I'll ever know for sure if we don't give this a try, ne?"

Aomine smiled, bright and genuine and Kise's heart thumped painfully in his chest.

'Ah, there it is again', he thought. 'Still going into cardiac arrest around him.'

"I'm on board with that", he said and stepped closer. "Hayato's in the living room, right?"

Kise arched an eyebrow and put his arms around Aomine's waist. "Yeah, why?"

Aomine smirked. "Just gotta know if I can use tongue or not."

Kise's squawk of indignation was muffled by Aomine kissing him. Kise sighed against his lips and his eyes fluttered shut when his best friend's warm hands came up to cup his face.

Aomine pulled away, leaning his forehead against Kise's, their breaths mingling.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this", he mumbled.

Kise licked his lips and noted with satisfaction the way Aomine's eyes tracked the movement. "Eight years, right? You poured your heart out to me over tea, Aominecchi, you closet romantic."

Aomine groaned and knocked his head against Kise's. "Shuddup, you little shit."

"Oi, is that any way to treat your new boyfriend?", Kise said and Aomine's scowl softened again.

"I can think of a few different ways to treat my new boyfriend", he said, a wicked smirk spreading on his face.

"Aominecchi!", Kise whisper-shouted. "You're so nasty!"

"You kinda signed up for that."

"Guess I did. Kiss me again, you pervert."

Now that was an order Aomine happily obliged.


End file.
